Prior art contour-conforming magnetic devices are well-known. One known commercial use for such devices is the lifting of heavy, irregularly-shaped, magnetizable objects. Pevar, U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,209, describes such a device as including a plurality of adjacent, magnetizable plates. By means of a pair of rods passing through vertically extending holes in the body of each plate, the plates are connected to a housing.
In contrast, Izumi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,417, discloses an alternative, entirely magnetic coupling between the magnetizable elements and the device housing.
Both of these devices suffer from drawbacks, however. The Pevar device does not provide a wide range of vertical movement for the plates, thus limiting the variety of engageable contours. Relatedly, Izumi fails to teach a device having the security of mechanical engagement between the magnetizable elements and the device housing. The device of Izumi is further plagued by slippage. When the application is lifting objects, a sufficiently heavy object may overcome the magnetic attraction between the housing and the magnetizable elements. As a result, both the object and the magnetizable elements fall away from the housing.